Study: Cellphone Use ‘Triples Brain Tumor Rates’.

Did you ever wonder how a cell phone might affect your brain? When you think about it, the use of cell phones is massively experimental, as we had no idea what kind of negative effects they might have on people when they were first introduced. Well now, decades after heavy use of cell phones, a study shows that brain tumor rates nearly triple after 25 years of cell phone use.

The Swedish study, published in the journalPathophysiology, found that the longer someone talked on their phone — in terms of hours and years — the more likely they were to develop glioma, a deadly form of brain cancer.

The study found that, overall, people who used wireless phones for more than a year were at 70% greater risk of brain cancer as compared to those who used wireless phones for a year or less. Those who used wireless phones for more than 25 years were at a 300% greater risk of brain cancer than those who used wireless phones for a year or less.

Dr. Gabriel Zada, a neurosurgeon at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine who wasn’t involved in the study, said that the study provides more evidence that cell phones and brain cancer may be linked.

Indeed, the Swedish study came to similar conclusions as many other studies – that cell phone use increases brain cancer risk. Another study examining how cell phones might fuel brain cancer followed nearly 800,000 middle-aged women for seven years. In that time, there were 51,680 invasive cancers and 1,261 cancers of the central nervous system. But when analyzing the data and looking at the women who reported using cell phones for over ten years, a 10% increase in meningioma risk was discovered.

Here is the good news: even though the Swedish study mentioned above tripled the risk of developing glioma, the chances of someone being diagnosed with this type of brain tumor are extremely low. One study found that just more than 5 out of 100,000 Europeans (.005%) were diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor between 1995 and 2002. Tripling that rate puts the chances of developing glioma at .016%.

But even still, there are numerous ways cell phones could negatively affect your brain. So what can you do to prevent these potential negative effects? Whether you have the latest LTE technology or an old flip-phone, you can minimize your exposure to cell phone radiation by:

Seldom holding the phone up to your head. This can be accomplished by either using the speaker option or using headphones with a microphone attached.

Not sleeping with your phone next to you, and turning it off at night.